Improved brick-machine



UNITED STATES PATENT OEErcEJ RICHARD A. DOUGLAS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVED BRICK-MACHINE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 57,689. dated September 4, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD A. DOUG- Las, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, havev invented certain new and useful Improvements in Brick-Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, like letters indicating like parts wherever they occur.

To enable others skilled in the art to construct and use the invention, I will proceed to describe it.

My invention consists, iirst, in the grinding of the clay'for the bricks between a series of rollers revolving at different velocities.

It further consists in the use of a series of stationary molds, having plungers for pressing the brick in the molds, with a series of plungers or followers to -raise the brick out of the molds after they are pressed.

It further consists in an automatic device for removing the pressed brick from the molds, and at the saine time delivering a fresh charge of clay to the molds, and ina novel arrangement of mechanism for operating the various parts, as hereinafter more fully explained, the several parts being so arranged as to work successively and continuously.

Figure l is an end elevation. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section, taken on the line A B of Figs. 3 and 4. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line C D of Figs. 2, 3, and 4, and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal vertical section, taken on the line E F of Fig. 1.

A represents metallic end pieces of a strong frame bolted firmly at top and bottom to the Wooden beams B. The base of the framework B projects to the rear, as shown in Figs. l and 2, and has attached to it a series of columns or posts, C, which support the hopper H and the grinding apparatus.

A strong plate, O, having a series of cells or molds, J, of proper size to form bricks, is secured horizontally between the end plates, A, of the frame, as shown in Fig. l. Directly over this plate O is located a vertically-moving bed-piece, I, having a series of plungers, l 2 3, 86e., projecting vertically from its lower face, as shown in Fig. 4, these plungers being of proper size to ll the molds J. Attached to this block I, at each end, is a bridle, liv, which passes up over a cam, Z, secured to shaft D, and which cam, as it revolves, raises the block I and holds the plungers l 2 3, 85o., suspended above the molds J, as shown in the left-hand part of Fig. 4, there being sufficient space between the bottom of the plungers and the top of the molds to permit a charger or drawer, G, to slide in between them, as hereinafter explained, the charger G being shown in that position in the part of Fig. 4 referred to.

A series of cams, m, also secured to shaft D, are arranged to press upon the block I to force it down, thereby forcing the plungers l 2 3, Ste., into the molds J, as shown in the right-hand portion of Fig. 4, friction-rollers e being located in the block I for the cams m to work on.

Underneath the molds is a plate, L, having a series of followers, l 2 3', 85e., projecting vertically from it, these followers being of over, and resting on, a cam, a, which, as it revolves, elevates the plate L and causes the followers to enter the molds and course up flush with the upper surface thereof, for the purpose of pushing the brick out of the molds J after they have been pressed by the plungers l 2 3, Sac.

Directly in the rear of, and on a level with, the top of the molds J is located a hopper, d, (see Fig. 2,) into which the clay falls after having been ground, as hereinafter explained. The charger G rests under this hopper l upon the rear portion of plate O, and is arranged to slide back and forth over the top of the molds J and under hopper cl. This charger G has an opening, g, in it of sufficient size to cover all the molds, and of equal width therewith. Vhen the charger G is under hopper cl, as shown in Fig 2, this opening g will become filled with clay, which, when the charger is shoved forward, will fall into the molds J. rIhere is also an opening, h, in the front part of charger G, for the reception of lubricating material.

To give the necessary reciprocating motion to the charger G a bevel-gear, p, is attached to the end of shaft D, as shown in Fig. 4, which gears into a similar wheel, p', on the vertical shaft P, at the lower end of which two bevel-gears, t and t', impart motion to the horizontal shaft X, (see Figs. 2 and 3,) on which are secured cam-wheels N N, as shown.

In rear of the main portion of the machine are arranged the rock-shafts It and R', as shown in Fig. 3, and to the end of these shafts an arm, o, is secured, as shown more clearly in Fig. 2, these arms having secured to them a stud or pin, c, which works in the groove in the periphery of the cam-wheels N, by which a rocking motion is imparted to the rock-shafts R and It', and as these are connected by the arms fand rods y to the chargers G it will be seen that the latter are thus made to slide back and forth at the proper times, when the rock-shafts are operated by the cam-wheels N, the shape of these being such as to time the movements of the chargers accurately with the movements of the plungers l 2 3.

The arms r are slotted, so that the studs c can be adjusted to give a greater or less movenienttothe chargers, as may be desired, to adjust them.

It will also be observed that the plate L is attached to the rods t' by means of nuts o, so that by turning the latter the height of th'e followers l 2 3, 85e., can be adjusted, as desired, in order to insure the raising of the brick entirely out of the molds, and thus preventtheirbeingbroken or injured when shoved forward by the charger G.

The grinding apparatus consists of rollers A placed horizontally side by side in pairs, and

each pair so geared that one shall revolve much more rapidly than its mate. In the drawings I have represented two such pairs of rollers, though it is obvious that more may be used if necessary.

In the drawings, the rollers a are the rapidly-revo] ving ones, the gear being arranged to produce this result.

'lhe clay, being placed in the hopper H, is ground by the rollers c and c', and is conducted thence by the inclined board or apron b to the hopper d and charger G, from whence it is conveyed to the molds J by the charger as it moves forward.

Motion being imparted to the machine through the medium of the wheels T, U, V, Y, and Z the operation is as f'ollows: Suppose the machine to be set as shown in Fig. 4, the first operation is the withdrawal of the charger G from over the molds J, which it has just supplied with clay. The plungers 1 2 3, &c., then descend, being pressed down by the cams m, and press the clay in the molds, immediately after which b oth the plungers above and the followers below begin to ascend, the former being raised by the cams l, and the latter by the cams u, their upward motion continuing until the brick are raised entirely out of the molds J, at which instant the charger G comes forward, shoving the pressed brick out from under the plun gers onto boards placed to receive them, the lower followers descending at the same time to open the molds for the reception of `the clay brought forward by the charger G, the latter also lubricating the ends of the plungers l 2 3, Sac., at the same time, and also sweeping off the surplus clay, if any, in its return movement.

The right and left hand parts of the machine, as shown in Fig. 4, are duplicates of each other, there being two sets of molds, plungers, followers, chargers, etc., the cams on shaft D and the wheels N being so arranged as to cause the two parts to work alternately.

By these means I construct a machine that is very compact, powerful, and rapid in its 0peration, and that is not liable t0 get out of order.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim isl. The'combination of a series of grindingrollers, a and a', being' so geared that one of each pair shall revolve faster than the other, with the hopper d and the charger Gwhen arranged to operate as shown and described.

2. The charger G, provided with the chamber g and the lubricating-reservoir h, arranged to operate in connection with the hopper d, substantially as set forth.

3. rIhe plungers l 2 3, Ste., arranged to operate in combination with the molds J and the followers l 2 3', &c., when said plungers and followers are operated by the cams l, m, and u, as shown and described.

4. The arrangement of the cam-wheels N and the accompanying mechanism for operating the charger G, as set forth.

The means, substantially as shown, for adjusting the height of the plate L and its followers.

6. rlhe means of adjusting thermovements of the charger G by means 0f the slotted arm r and pin c, substantially as shown and described.

RIOHARD A. DOUGLAS. Witnesses M. C. DODGE, PHILIP T. DODGE. 

